


home is where the start is

by sunshineflying



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Kissing, Awkwardness, F/M, Failure to Communicate, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Holidays, Thanksgiving Dinner, Tutoring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-03 18:10:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21183773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshineflying/pseuds/sunshineflying
Summary: Ben desperately needs a good grade on his philosophy exam in order to keep his GPA up enough to get into the master's program of his dreams. Thankfully, his friend Rose knows a girl who is a paid tutor on campus who can help him. But with Thanksgiving holiday just a few days away, and the exam looming on the following Monday, less than conventional tutoring methods must be taken.Cue Rey pretending to be Ben's girlfriend over Thanksgiving weekend, all because they need time to study.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosesmallow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesmallow/gifts).

> Written for the fall exchange at the writing den. Thank you so much to Bronwyn and Lauren for beta reading this! I hope you all enjoy, especially my prompter! <3

For the fifth time that afternoon, Ben huffs out a frustrated breath and leans back in his chair. He’s had it with his philosophy homework: nothing makes sense at this point, nor does he see what understanding various fallacies has to do with his English degree. If someone’s wrong, they’re wrong — he’s a jerk, he knows this, but not enough of a jerk to sit there and tell someone exactly which fallacy it is that they’ve used in order to be so goddamned wrong.

“Ben, if you do that one more time I’m kicking you out.”

He’s sitting across from Rose, one of his only friends on campus. She’s not his usual type — she’s far more bubbly and optimistic than most of his friends — but she’s got a brash way about her that endears her to him, and they suffered through freshman physics together and after that, they had forged a friendship. At the very least, they’re study buddies so people can’t kick them out of the library study rooms — groups get priority, and Ben used to study in them alone all the time and complain about getting kicked out.

If Rose kicks him out of the study room, she too risks getting kicked out. He doesn’t think she’ll actually follow through on her threat, but she’s pretty bold, so he also doesn’t particularly want to test this theory. 

“Philosophy is stupid,” Ben mutters.

Rose laughs. “I told you to take a math class for your logical reasoning credits. I could have at least helped you, then.”

“Well, we can’t all be engineering geniuses,” he quips.

Smirking, Rose says, “If you need help, why don’t you just go get it? There are tutors downstairs.”

The library was massive, one of several on campus, but this particular one they frequented had a massive amount of study rooms and an entire floor dedicated to tutoring services. Ben shakes his head. “I don’t particularly want to ask a sophomore for help. I’m a _senior_.”

“You did this to yourself,” Rose reminds him.

Ben doesn’t dignify that with a response. Instead, he leans over, staring down at his textbook with a grumpy scowl on his face. He spins his pen in his hand, reading over the same paragraph for the hundredth time, retaining approximately zero information as he does so.

“Ben, I’m serious. Set aside your pride and talk to a tutor,” Rose repeats. “I know one of them — she’s really nice, I bet she could help you. I think she’s booked up, technically, but she was just telling me how she could use a few extra dollars. I bet she’d take you on.”

“Rose —”

“She’s a junior, but she’s our age. She took a gap year,” Rose explains. “You wouldn’t be taught by someone younger than you. Not drastically, at least.”

He’s quiet. He really, _really_ doesn’t want to do this. However, it’s clear to him that she’s not going to let this go, so he ought to just give in and do as she says. Stubbornly, Rose pulls out her cell phone and begins typing, thumbnails tapping against the screen of her phone. “I’m texting her right now. I’ll get you an appointment, and you guys can use this room to talk about it.”

Ben shakes his head and looks down at his notebook. He’s argued with Rose enough times to know that it’s not worth it to do that now. Now, he needs to just let this go.

Ten minutes later, a petite girl wearing a turtleneck under her denim overalls along with some scuffed up Doc Martens and _three_ buns down the back of her head walks up to the study room door and waves through the glass. Rose grins and waves back. When Ben looks her over and takes a good, hard look, he frowns.

This isn’t going to work. 

He can tell already that he’s not going to learn well from this girl. She looks quite eccentric, not to mention it’s been quite a long time since he’s been on a date, never mind a quick hook up, so her appearance is going to be incredibly, horribly distracting for him. “Rose, no —”

“Rose _yes_,” she grins as she opens the door. “Hey Rey!”

The two smile at each other and share a hug, and then Rose immediately begins packing up her engineering textbooks. “Alright, we have this room booked for another fifteen minutes or so. I’ll let you guys talk it out, work out your schedule,” she says busily, without looking at either of them.

Rey looks over to Ben, who is slumped over in his chair and avoiding her gaze. “Thank you, Rey for doing this so short notice,” Rose continues. She zips up her bag and looks between them. “He’s stubborn, but he needs help, so don’t let him tell you that he doesn’t.”

“Okay,” Rey says, drawing out her word and looking skeptically at Ben.

“He’s all bark and no bite,” Rose reassures her, patting Rey on the shoulder before leaving the study room without a look back.

Ben sighs, avoiding her eyes. Rey shrugs and says, “Alright, well, here I am. When’s the test?”

He says nothing at first; he’s not even sure he wants to accept Rey’s help at this point, so telling her details will only serve to get her hopes up. That isn’t really something he wants to do. But rather than taking that as a hint to leave, she instead takes a seat across from him, where Rose had just been settled in, and waits for him to reply.

“It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving. Next week.”

Rey looks down at the book. “What class?”

“Philosophy.”

She’s quiet for a minute. “So… Rose asked me to help you with your philosophy homework, with two days left before everyone leaves for Thanksgiving break, with your exam in a mere seven days?” she clarifies.

“Sounds about right, yeah.”

Rey sighs. She looks over her shoulder, presumably to see if Rose is still around, but with zero luck. After a beat, Ben says, “You don’t _have_ to take the job.”

“Yes, I do.”

She says it automatically, like there isn’t a doubt in her mind as to whether or not she needs to do this. After another moment, she clarifies, “For me, not for you.”

“Oh, thanks,” Ben says dryly.

Rey narrows her eyes and really studies him. Ben has no idea what her watchful gaze might mean, or whether she’s going to accept the job or not. “I wouldn’t usually care, but I just looked up the GPA I need to get into the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and I need an A in his class or I’m fucked,” Ben sighs.

Rey looks him over, her expression neutral, and Ben grapples with the many possibilities of what this gaze means. Hearing nothing further from her, he says, “But if you don’t want to, that’s fine. I know it’s short notice or whatever. Honestly I’ll probably just tell my family I won’t be there for Thanksgiving and that’ll be it.”

“No.”

Ben raises an eyebrow. “No?”

“No, you can’t just not visit your family,” Rey says quickly. “I’ll do it. I’ll help you.”

Ben is quiet, thinking it over. “I’ll probably still need to skip Thanksgiving with my family, though,” he says. “I need to stay here so we can study.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Now he’s really confused, and asks, “What about _your_ family?”

She shakes her head, and the moment she speaks and her accent becomes incredibly clear, he realizes what a stupid question it was. “Hello, I’m English?” she says, pointing to her mouth as she says it.

“So…” Ben begins, trying to work through the scenario they’ve just gotten themselves into, “You want to come with me to my family Thanksgiving, just to tutor me in Philosophy? So I can go to the graduate program I want?”

“Yes,” Rey nods.

“What’s in it for you?”

“I told you,” she replies easily, “I get to experience a real American Thanksgiving. And you get your A.”

Ben eyes her warily. “You’d just have to endure a million questions from my parents. They’ll probably assume we’re dating.”

“So? Let them assume.”

“We just met.”

He doesn’t understand how she can be so cavalier about things like this; implying a relationship isn’t something anyone would take lightly. Yet for Rey it seems like no big deal, and Ben can’t figure out why. “What’s the big deal?” she asks.

“The fact that you’re basically saying you don’t care if my parents think we’re dating.”

“If you say that we _are_, will it get them off your back?” Rey asks.

“Well, yes, obviously, but —”

Rey shrugs. “So I agree to do that. I’ll help you get them off your back so you can hopefully have a peaceful, normal Thanksgiving, help you get an A, and in return you take me off this damn campus and let me see what a normal American holiday is like.”

Ben looks unsure.

“It seems like I’m getting a hell of a lot more out of this than you are.”

Rey sighs. “_And_ I get paid. Overtime.”

Now it seems a bit more even. Ben nods. It’s probably one of the stupidest things he’s ever done, but when it comes down to it, he’ll do just about anything to get into this writing program. It’s been his dream since he was a teen, he just hadn’t looked into the requirements until recently — nor did he expect philosophy to be so damn confusing.

——

He rolls up outside the engineering building where Rey asked him to pick her up, her class on Wednesday letting out far later than his last class of the day. She stands with a stuffed backpack on her back, an engineering textbook in hand, and a grimace on her face. Ben can only assume it’s because she’s having second thoughts about joining him for the holiday — it’s not exactly going to be a joyous or fun occasion.

Rey walks hesitantly toward the vehicle until she confirms that the mysterious man in all black clothing and dark Ray Ban shades is, indeed, Ben. She climbs into his Ford sedan — also black, unsurprisingly — and stuffs her bag down by her feet. “Hi,” she breathes.

“Hey.”

Ben drives off with alarming speed, the threatening lights of a campus parking enforcement officer in his rearview mirror. 

“So, it’s like a forty-five minute drive and all I have is this audiobook,” he says. “It’s _American Gods_ by Neil Gaiman.”

“Cool. I’ll nap,” Rey replies, kicking off her Doc Martens and stuffing her mismatched stocking feet up on the dash. “Wake me up when we get there.”

Ben turns off of campus, towards the freeway, and asks, “Don’t you want to like, quiz me or something?”

Rey groans. “Not particularly,” she says. “You won’t retain much, anyway. You’ll be focused on the road.”

“You don’t drive much, do you?”

Shaking her head, Rey says, “Nope. But it’s true anyway.”

“Well… suit yourself.”

Ben merges onto the freeway and starts up his audiobook again, letting the story distract him from the terrible drivers while simultaneously lulling Rey to sleep.

Unlike the day they’d met, Ben finds it a little easier to look away and not stare; the way she’s snoring with her mouth dropped open does a lot to alleviate the weird feelings of attraction he’d felt towards her upon their first meeting.

Regardless of how pretty he did or did not think she was, they were going to be pretending to be a couple while at Thanksgiving with his family, and that was intimidating, to say the least. On the bright side, he didn’t communicate with his parents very often, so it wouldn’t be completely out of left field that he chose not to tell them about an important life event such as getting into a relationship.

Rey wakes sometime after Ben exits off the freeway, heading in the general direction of the suburbs where he grew up. His house isn’t huge, by any means, but it’ll have enough space for the two of them, his parents, and probably his uncles, and that’s all that really matters. 

Oh god. They’re going to be sharing his childhood bedroom.

Rey is quiet as she wakes and adjusts to her new surroundings. They haven’t left the state, but Ben still wonders if she’s been this far away from campus. He’s always assumed the international students live in a bubble, never exploring far outside their collegiate environment..

The sun was beginning to set by the time Ben pulled into the driveway of his childhood home. There was still the basketball hoop, now net-less and rusted, hanging over the double-wide garage door. It had the same pastel colored siding as everything else in the neighborhood, and in the back yard off in the corner there was a wooden playset, a symbol of misplaced hope in Ben that he scowled at every time he arrived at his parents’ place.

There’s no snow on the ground yet, but there’s a noticeable chill in the air that wasn’t present when Rey got out of class and climbed into Ben’s car. She shivers and pulls the sleeves of her oversized sweater over her hands, and then follows Ben out of the car and up the drive.

Ben can see the telltale silhouette of his father in the armchair by the bay window, no doubt lounging back and watching some type of sports game that his mother has no interest in. His mother sits perched in the reclining portion of the sofa next to his father, readers balanced on her nose and a book in hand. On her lap rests the scruffy head of the family dog, Chewie.

To anyone else, it’d be warm and inviting. For Ben, it instills nothing but dread in him.

“Nice place,” Rey comments as they stand at the front door.

Ben only hums in response.

As soon as he opens the front door, barking rings out in the house, followed by the scraping of dog claws on hardwood floors. Rey stands behind Ben, using him as a protective barrier as the scruffy dog launches at them. “Heya, Chewie,” Ben says, smiling lightly as he kneels down to pet the dog.

When he kneels, Rey is in full view of Ben’s parents, who wander slowly into the room. “Ben, you really should –”

Whatever his father was going to say dies right there on his lips as he realizes that there’s also a young woman in their home. Ben focuses on Chewie, giving him scratches behind his ears and letting him lick his face. Rey watches, her bag slung over one shoulder, an uncomfortable smile on her face as his parents stare at her.

“Hi,” she says awkwardly, waving at them as she does so.

“Ben didn’t tell us he was bringing a guest,” his mother says.

“Mom, dad, this is Rey. Rey, these are my parents,” Ben says begrudgingly. “And this good boy right here is Chewie,” he adds with much more fondness in his voice.

Ben’s parents send him odd looks, prompting an even stranger look from Rey, but for a moment nobody says a thing. Finally, his father speaks. “Nice to meet you, Rey. I’m Han, this is my wife Leia. Welcome.”

“We didn’t know Ben had a…” Leia trails off.

Ben stands and asks casually, “Girlfriend?” 

“You don’t exactly date often,” Han comments.

Rey puts on her best brave face and says, “He told me that. Sorry if it’s weird. I know it’s early in our relationship, but since my usual plans are to just sit at home… he offered, and I was excited to experience a normal American Thanksgiving.”

“Oh, well, you won’t get _normal_ here,” Han advises. “But you’re welcome all the same.”

“I hope you don’t mind a little mess,” Leia says. “I was planning to recruit Ben’s help before dinner tomorrow evening.”

Smiling, Rey shakes her head. “I don’t mind at all. I can help, if you want.”

“No, we couldn’t ask you to do that,” Leia says. “You can watch some TV with Han. Have you ever seen the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?”

“No,” Rey says.

“Well, that’s what we’ll do tomorrow, then,” Han instructs with finality. “We’ll have Ben make coffee. He’s the best at it. Always has been, even before he drank it.”

“Dad…”

Rey looks up at Ben curiously, and he watches in hopes that she continues to play along with as much ease as she has so far. “I used to only drink Earl Grey in the mornings, but his coffee has definitely converted me,” she says, smiling at him.

Leia raises an eyebrow and asks, “You two spend mornings together a lot?”

“_Mom_.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Leia says, holding up her hands as though under arrest. “Can’t blame a mom for wanting her kid to be safe.”

Rey chokes on a cough.

“Alright, alright, hang up your coats and come in. Ben can bring your bags upstairs,” Han abruptly changes the topic, much to everyone’s relief.

Leia wanders into the living room first as Rey looks up at Ben with a smirk. She hands off her bag to him and follows his parents into the other room. Ben is hesitant to leave Rey alone with them, but knows that his parents expect him to be a certain level of chivalrous to her, under this guise of being in a relationship.

Her bag weighs a metric ton, but he carries it upstairs with his own backpack just as instructed. 

Ben takes that opportunity of having his room to himself to put away any of the embarrassing stuff he doesn’t want her to see, like his trophies from rugby in high school and the stupid picture frame his mom has of him hanging on the wall with all of his photos from kindergarten to senior year. 

He also eyes his full sized bed warily, unsure of whether they’ll actually end up sharing it. He doesn’t know if the sheets were changed since he was last there, but if they haven’t, it’s too late now.

Speaking of too late, Ben realizes with a jolt of fear that he’s left Rey unattended with his parents for entirely too long. He takes the stairs back down to the living room two at a time, nearly falling on his ass as he does so. When he gets there, he sees Rey sitting cross legged on the sofa where his mother usually sits, a plate of food in her lap and Chewie begging by her feet. Leia stands in the kitchen, another plate in hand, which she promptly shoves into Ben’s grip as soon as he’s within arm’s reach.

“So, Ben,” Leia says softly, just between the two of them in the secret space of the kitchen. “A girlfriend?”

Ben’s expression darkens and he asks, “Yes? And?”

“You never told us.”

He sighs. “I don’t tell you a lot of things,” he reminds her.

Leia looks into the living room at Rey, who eats contentedly and slips Chewie a piece of food when she thinks nobody’s looking. “She’s very pretty,” Leia adds. “How did you two meet?”

“Mom.”

“Indulge me, Ben.”

“Rose introduced us,” he says. The less detail, the better.

“Ah. And she’s from England, huh?” 

Ben shrugs. “Yeah, so?”

Leia watches her son with a serious, worried expression. “What happens when she moves back?”

“It’s like she said… this is very new. We haven’t thought that far ahead. Bringing her with is like, _huge_. I wouldn’t have done it unless I felt like it was the only option. She wanted to know what the holiday was like, and I didn’t want her to be all alone,” Ben says. “Now can I go eat in peace?”

It’s clear that she has a lot more questions, but instead of asking, Leia nods and lets him walk away. He takes a seat next to Rey on the sofa, and finds himself surprised by the warm smile she gives him in greeting. It makes his heart do a stupid somersault, and he doesn’t want to think about what that could possibly mean. 

In a desperate bid to get some sort of revenge, he leans over, arm pressed up against hers, and whispers, “I saw you feeding Chewie.”

She looks over, a surprised, playful smile on her face. Her eyes sparkle, and Ben realizes just how close they are and immediately leans back. He ignores the way his dad is watching them, and takes a breath to try to relax. _She only looked at him_. It’s not a big deal. “Am I in trouble?” she asks.

“Maybe,” Ben says simply, a threat to loom in her head to be fulfilled at another time.

They spend the rest of the evening eating leftovers and watching one of the Harry Potter movies on TV, after Leia forces Han to switch it off of sports because three outnumbers one.

Han and Leia are ready for bed much earlier than Ben and Rey, but they retreat upstairs anyway. Rey seems pretty tired, even after her nap. Ben knows there’s nothing good on TV at this hour so there’s no point in trying to find something. 

Ben totally forgets about the bed situation until they’re up in his room a few minutes after saying goodnight to his parents. They’re standing side by side, staring at the mattress, neither of them speaking. “Um…” Rey begins. 

“Yeah,” Ben nods.

The silence is awkward, palpable. After a beat, Rey offers, “I can sleep downstairs on the sofa.”

Ben fixes an odd expression upon her.

“What?” Rey asks.

“If we expect them to believe that we’re dating, we can’t have you sleeping on the sofa,” he argues. “That’d look bad.”

Rey shrugs. “Well, we haven’t exactly established how long we’ve been dating. Would it really be that unheard of for you to tell them that it’s new, and that we’re not in the _sharing beds_ phase of our relationship?”

“You’re the one who told them I converted you to coffee in the mornings, implying overnight stays.”

Rey huffs, “I was playing along.”

“You just want to share a bed with me.”

“I’ve done weirder things,” Rey confesses. “You know, the_ college experience_ or whatever. I can sleep next to you. I promise I won’t hit on you.”

Ben hesitates. “I’ll set up on the floor. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

Rey frowns and looks away, appearing rejected by his response. Ben sees the shift in emotions in her face, but does nothing to fix it. It wouldn’t be right for them to share a bed; they’re strangers. Besides, it’s not just her comfort they need to consider — it’s his own, as well. And he doesn’t particularly want to risk an embarrassing morning situations with her right there next to him in his tiny full sized bed. 

Rey grabs a small pouch from her backpack, as well as some flannel pajama pants, and leaves the room. Ben sets up a bed on the floor while Rey busies herself with preparing to sleep, ignoring the strangeness that he feels all of a sudden. He’d only been trying to be a gentleman. Besides, they barely knew each other and his bed wasn’t _that_ big. 

In the morning, she’d thank him. He was sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanksgiving Day has arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to my lovely betas for reading this over for me <3

Ben wakes early, unsurprised to see Rey sprawled out across his entire bed, still fast asleep. He’d known she’d prefer this, not sharing a space with him. Her hair is a ratted mess strewn out across the pillows, released from the buns she usually wore them in. She looks cute and cozy, but somehow the least dignified he’s ever seen her even though she’s simply sleeping.

Moving as quietly as possible in order to not wake her, Ben balls up the blankets he’d used as a makeshift bed and stuffs them onto the armchair next to his bed. Then, he retrieves some clothes from the closet and retreats to the bathroom for a shower. He can hear his parents downstairs, his mom undoubtedly cooking something for their Thanksgiving dinner, his father probably sipping on coffee in his pajamas with Chewie sprawled out on the couch next to him and using his thigh as a pillow. 

Hair still damp and dripping on his cardigan, Ben wanders downstairs in his stocking feet. His all-black ensemble feels especially fitting given the holiday; he’s never enjoyed Thanksgiving. Along with the smells of the many dishes his mother is preparing, Ben smells the telltale scents of Folgers. It’s certainly not his favorite kind of coffee, but he’ll take any sort of caffeine he can get. 

“Good morning, Ben,” Leia says warmly.

She reaches into the cupboard above the coffee maker and slides a mug towards him. “There’s creamer in the fridge, that frilly stuff your dad likes so much,” she says with a laugh.

Though Han would vehemently deny the use of said creamers, citing Leia as their primary consumer, it was obvious to everyone that Han was the only one who used them aside from Ben. Though Ben wasn’t a fan of them, they masked the cheap flavor of the Folgers his parents brewed, making everything easier to stomach. 

Ben pours himself some coffee, leaving plenty of room for the caramel creamer in the fridge. Leia adds another mug to the countertop and says, “For Rey. You’ll want to wake her soon. Han is getting impatient to start watching the parade.”

Caught off guard by his mother’s statement, Ben looks over strangely. “What?” Leia asked. “You’ve never made your girlfriend wake up before?”

“I — of course I have,” Ben stumbles over his words. “She’s just… not a morning person.”

“Few of us are.”

She looks at Ben with amusement as he pours another mug of coffee, adding just as much creamer to Rey’s as he had to his own. “You know, Ben,” Leia says. “It means a lot to us that you’d bring Rey here to meet us. We know that things haven’t always been easy, and…”

“Can we not have this conversation right now?” Ben interrupts. “I haven’t had my coffee yet.”

Though there’s a sadness in Leia’s eyes, she laughs off his brashness with practiced ease and turns back to the stovetop where potatoes are boiling, the first step of many for her buttery, perfect mashed potatoes. “Sure, Ben,” she nods. “Breakfast should be ready soon, you can use that to lure her out of bed.”

Ben picks up the mugs, one in each hand. “Cinnamon rolls?” he asks.

“Of course,” Leia nods. “Can’t mess with tradition.”

She almost draws a smile out of Ben as he leaves the kitchen. He balances the mugs of coffee carefully as he ascends the staircase to his room. The door is cracked open just barely, and he can see that Rey is still snoozing away inside. Carefully, he walks in and places both mugs on his desk before he pivots to the bed. She looks comfortable, though undignified. He can hear her heavy breathing, somewhere between snoring and not-snoring. 

Awkwardly, he approaches the bed and reaches out. Just barely tapping her shoulder, he says, “Rey?”

Just as he’d predicted, she didn’t move at all.

He jostles her with a little more force, but still not enough to wake her. “Rey?” he tries again.

Rey sniffles and breathes, but doesn’t wake up. Annoyed, Ben shakes her shoulder, enough to roll her onto her back. “Wh-ah?” she grumbles, disoriented.

Rey sits up as soon as she sees Ben, brow scrunched up in confusion. “My mom asked me to come wake you up,” Ben explains. “My dad wants to start watching the parade.”

Still trying to come to grips with her surroundings, Rey rubs at her eyes and yawns, looking around. “What time is it?” she asks sleepily.

Her voice is hoarse from sleeping, and she looks an absolute mess. But yet, somehow, Ben finds that he’s still observing all the noticeably attractive things about her: her hair, her eyes, the way she looks like a child when confused. “It’s like ten.”

“Oh.”

Ben walks to his desk to retrieve one of the mugs from it. He holds it out, a peace offering of sorts, and says, “The cinnamon rolls are almost done, too. Mom says if me waking you up isn’t enough to get you out of bed, the food will be.”

Rey snorts. “She’s not wrong.”

The room fills with an uncomfortable, awkward silence. Ben isn’t sure how hospitable he needs to be, or _should_ be for that matter. Not to mention they haven’t studied at all, and the exam is creeping closer and closer. “Do you need to shower or anything?”

Rey raises an eyebrow as she peeks up at him, cupping the mug in both of her hands as she does so. “Does it look like I need to shower?”

Ben scowls and turns back to his desk, to pick up his own mug of coffee. He sits down and pulls out his textbook, trying to make a silent point that they have yet to work on this whole test prep situation — the whole reason she’s there — and that she should get a move on with her morning so they could get some studying done.

“No, I’ll wait until tonight to take a shower,” Rey says finally. “Now, weren’t you saying we’re needed downstairs? Why are you studying right now?”

He hears the rustling of his sheets and can only assume that Rey is climbing out of bed. He keeps his eyes trained down on his book, though he’s not reading any of the words. He’s too tired for that. Moments later, Rey’s voice is right in his ear, her warm hand pressed to the center of his back. “We’ll study tonight. In the meantime, pretend you like me, okay? Wouldn’t want your parents to get suspicious,” she says.

She stands up and places her coffee on the desk. She tosses her heavy bag over her shoulder and disappears out the door, presumably to the bathroom to get ready, and Ben decides to trust her. He shuts the book and stands, taking his coffee downstairs along with the last remaining traces of a good attitude left in him. Rey joins them just as Leia is serving up cinnamon rolls, wearing a hoodie that Ben immediately realizes does not belong to her, along with some leggings and woolen socks. Ben’s jaw drops, and Rey smirks. 

“Well, don’t you just look cozy,” Leia observes, before turning to Ben with the most pleased smile on her face.

“I hope you washed it first,” Han laughs.

Scowling, Ben says, “_Dad_.”

“It’s very cozy,” Rey says with a smile. “It was sweet of Ben to let me borrow it.”

“Have a seat, come enjoy!” Leia says, gesturing to the sofa next to Ben. “I can get you more coffee if you’d like, and there’s plenty of cinnamon rolls to go around. The uncles are late, as usual, so we’re just going to enjoy the food and the parade without them.”

Moments later, everyone is seated in the living room, food in hand and coffee on a table nearby. Rey stuffs her face with very little manners, enthralled by the floats and bands on the television. Ben grew bored of the parade somewhere around age ten, but something about Rey’s wide-eyed enjoyment of it makes it a little more bearable for him. She sits cross legged, knee bumping against Ben’s, and he thinks that if this is all they’re doing in the way of fake dating, he can probably manage. It’s easy.

But things with his family are never easy.

Sometime shortly after Leia returns to the kitchen to put the finishing touches on their Thanksgiving meal, the front door opens. In walk two men, both looking as old as Ben’s parents. Ben greets the older gentleman wearing a cape rather than a full jacket — Uncle Lando. He’s happy to see him, always has been and always will be. He even gives the man a hug.

But he gets cagey around his other uncle, the scruffy hobo-looking one who seems to feel it necessary to give Ben a wide berth — Uncle Luke. There’s an odd feeling in the room when Leia peeks her head in, unceremoniously shouting that the guys were too late and the cinnamon rolls are gone.

Luke disappears to the kitchen to pester Leia, leaving Lando behind to look between Ben and Rey with much amusement in his eyes. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,” he says smoothly, extending his hand to Rey.

“Hi, I’m —”

“Lando, this is Rey, Rey this is Lando.”

Ben says it without looking away from the television screen, and doesn’t notice the way both Han and Rey look at him oddly. “Lando is Ben’s uncle, even though we’re not related,” Han explains. “Lando and I go way back. We’ve known each other our whole lives.” Then, since Ben doesn’t seem to be disclosing the information, Han adds, “Rey is Ben’s new girlfriend.”

Lando whistles. “Look at _you_, little starfighter!” he exclaims. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he adds, looking to Rey as he shakes her hand.

“Little starfighter?” Rey asks with a smile.

She looks over at Ben, whose face is flushed a deep crimson. He pointedly keeps his eyes focused on the television, ignoring the conversation.

“Oh, I could tell you all kinds of great stories from when this one was a baby,” Lando continues, smirking mischievously. “And I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that his parents would be more than happy to dig up his baby pictures.”

Rey looks from Lando, back to Ben. She raises an eyebrow, wondering if he’ll look over. When he doesn’t, she reaches over and drops her palm to his thigh. “Hello?” she asks in a singsong voice.

That gets his attention.

He drops his hand atop hers, his first instinct being to push her hand away and make her stop touching him. But if they’re trying to sell his family on the idea that they’re together, he needs to not do that. When Ben looks over at her, he’s acutely aware of how hot his cheeks have gotten. His family is embarrassing him — it has nothing whatsoever to do with her warm hand on his thigh. Not at all. 

“Can we save the baby pictures until next Thanksgiving?” he asks.

Rey’s face does something odd, like she’s well aware they won’t be together next Thanksgiving so there’s no chance in the world of her seeing his old baby photos. To his uncle and father, however, Ben realizes it sounds completely different. 

It sounds like they’re serious.

Like he’s planning to have Rey around for a long while.

“Sure, _little starfighter_,” Rey says with a smile, leaning towards him, their elbows bumping. 

His hand remains firmly over hers, much larger than hers as well. Lando payfully gags at their miniscule display of affection and settles into the other recliner. Ben and Rey sit tensely for a moment, her hand balled into a fist beneath his hand, neither of them knowing what to do next. After a moment of supreme awkwardness, Rey stands from the sofa and excuses herself to the restroom. 

“She’s cute,” Lando says to Ben. “Seems to know how to tame you and keep you on your toes. You need a woman like that.”

Ben’s face scrunches up in displeasure. “Why?”

“Well, someone’s got to get you to stop being such a grump all the time,” Lando explains. “And I think she does that for you.”

“Do you, now?”

“Lighten up, kiddo, it’s the holidays,” Han interjects. “We like your girlfriend. That’s a good thing.”

Ben raises one eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”

Before he can say one more grumpy thing, Rey returns to the living room and settles back in on the sofa next to Ben. She tucks her legs to the side and leans just close enough to him to make it look like all earlier quarrels are long forgotten — though it’s the first time either of them have sat together in such a way. Lando and Han, blessedly, don’t notice.

Ben slowly begins to relax as Rey’s presence becomes a constant, something he’s growing used to, that doesn’t make him want to crawl out of his own skin because he doesn’t know how to pretend to be someone’s boyfriend. They sit together until his mother calls out from the kitchen that it’s time to eat, and everyone stands and hurries to the kitchen to eat. 

The “youngin’s” get to go first — Ben of course brutally scowling at Luke, who calls them that with such amusement — and Rey piles her plate high with turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and every other delectable Thanksgiving dish Leia and Luke put out. Rey takes about as much food as Ben usually does, which surprises him — his capacity for Thanksgiving food has gone unparalleled by everyone else in his family, from a young age. Something about it just fills him up and rejuvenates him — it’s always been his favorite holiday meal, not that he’d say so to anyone at the table.

And speaking of the table — Ben and Rey are first to sit down, so he takes the liberty of pouring everyone some wine. That was a tradition that had only started the year before, the first Thanksgiving when Ben was able to drink, but it was a tradition nonetheless — Leia declared it to be so during her toast. Ben doesn’t even bother to ask Rey if she’s old enough for such a thing — if she’s not, this is just a treat for her, then. 

Once everyone has taken a seat at the table, plates piled high with delicious food, Leia stands and lifts her glass for her annual Thanksgiving toast. Ben can’t help but feel like something is about to go terribly, horribly awry.

“I think the thing on everybody’s mind this year is the fact that we have someone new at the table.”

Ben looks down at his lap, and then glances over to Rey. Her cheeks are flushed, but she doesn’t look embarrassed. A tad bit uncomfortable, perhaps, but not as though she wants to run out of the house and never return. Not yet, anyway.

“Rey, we are so happy to have you here. Admittedly, we weren’t sure if we’d ever see someone in that seat next to Ben at the table,” she begins. “He’s a tough nut to crack, but we’ve hoped for years that he’d find someone to endure his grumpiness and see past all that to the wonderful young man he’s become.”

Leia extends her arm and her glass just a little further as she says, “I want to propose a toast to Rey and Ben, and to what I hope is just the first of many family holidays we can all spend together.”

Ben’s face feels about as red as the wine in the glasses by that point, and he desperately wants to interject, to tell them that it’s all just a lie, to confess to it all and offer to bow out. But then Rey is reaching for her glass, and she actually has the courage to speak.

“Thank you,” she says, her voice soft and a bit timid. “I appreciate that. And I just want to thank you all for opening up your home to me and sharing this tradition. It’s my first Thanksgiving ever, and it’s been incredible already.”

“Cheers to that!” Lando exclaims, holding up his glass.

And though Ben wants nothing more than to glower and try to express his displeasure at his mom’s statement, he does, in fact, want to toast to Rey’s first Thanksgiving. So, he raises his glass, much to everyone’s surprise, and when Rey looks over at him when she realizes, they share the smallest of smiles. After everyone has taken a sip, Ben reaches for his utensils just as the rest do… but before he can take a bite, he’s interrupted by a clanking sound.

Specifically, by the sound of his father and uncles tapping their knives against their wine glasses. A moment later, his mother joins in, too.

“This isn’t a wedding,” Ben grumbles.

He sets down his glass and feels his face growing hotter. It’s embarrassing, that they’d do this to him. He’s not going to kiss Rey. They’d never agreed on that.

“Oh, come on. It’s just a little kiss. No need for you two to hide away behind closed doors,” Lando says, relentlessly tapping his knife to the glass.

Leia looks at Ben and says, “We want you two to feel comfortable being a couple around us.”

“Mom —”

Before Ben can properly voice his protest, he feels a gentle hand on his thigh. Rey’s hand. He looks over at her in surprise. She’s flushed, and he feels the slightest tremble in her touch, but this is the facade they’d promised to keep up. This is the lie they started, and they either have to tell the truth or play along. Besides, it’s only a kiss, right?

“It’s alright,” she whispers softly, leaning towards him and putting some of her weight in her hand where it rests upon his lap. 

“I —”

Ben searches her eyes, a sort of desperation looking back at him. Does she want this? She couldn’t, could she? He’s nothing spectacular, definitely not a catch — just some guy who needed a tutor and got talked into more than he really expected. 

But through all her nerves and trepidation and fear, Rey smiles at him. Her eyes sparkle, and she looks so small in his hoodie, and her touch is enough to wipe out the clanging of the knives on glass, and the encouragement from his family. 

Their lips meet just briefly, a chaste display of a false affection that neither could have anticipated. Rey’s lips are soft and pillowy, the gentlest of touches against his own. Ben’s brain goes blank, and he forgets for a moment that his family is watching, fueling on this frankly inappropriate advance. But Rey said it was okay, and it’s only one kiss, so what’s the worst that could happen, really?

When he returns to the situation fully, there’s cheers and applause from his family ringing in his ears. He doesn’t know how long it lasted, or what it looked like, just that Rey’s face is flushed a deep red as she turns back to her food, and he’s pretty sure his cheeks are red enough to match.

Neither of them have to ask — Han announces in that moment that it’s time to eat, so they dig in.

Ben has never been happier to stuff his face with food.

Thankfully, Ben can hide behind the guise of being too full to talk once their meal concludes, and everyone retreats to the living room to watch the rest of the recording of the parade. Rey and Ben sit side by side on the sofa, Chewie providing a barrier between them and Leia.

They remain lethargic for the rest of the day — through decaf coffee and slices of pie and washing up all the dishes so Leia doesn’t have to. By the time seven o’clock rolls around, the uncles are saying their goodbyes. Lando makes both Rey and Ben smile by the end of it, and asks Rey to promise he’ll see her again. She gracefully avoids answering, but bids him farewell with a hug and a smile. 

Han and Leia retreat to bed as soon as the door locks behind Luke and Lando, so Rey and Ben are left to their own devices. 

“Are you tired?” Ben asks. “We can wait until tomorrow for the tutoring stuff if you want.”

Rey shrugs. “I could do a little tutoring.”

Nodding, Ben begins to ascend the stairs, assuming Rey will follow his lead. She does, but at a distance, and he sits at his desk for several minutes before he realizes that she’s not right behind him. Curiously, Ben stands and peeks out the doorway of his bedroom. He sees Rey in the bathroom, door open, dabbing a tissue at her face. She leans forward, blinking furiously, and when she steps away, she notices Ben out of the corner of her eye.

“Oh, I —”

“Sorry, I just —”

In a panic, Rey closes the bathroom door, leaving Ben alone and very confused in the hallway. Had she been crying?

He returns to his room and stuffs his philosophy textbook into his bag. They’re not getting any studying done that night, not when she’s apparently crying in his house after Thanksgiving dinner. Whatever had happened to cause the tears, Ben can’t figure out, but he’s determined to ask if she ever reappears to go to bed.

It takes her forever, and Ben gets impatient. Grabbing a random book from his shelf, Ben tosses himself across his unmade bed and begins to read. He gets twelve pages in before the door opens, and Rey shuffles in just enough so she can close the door behind her. She’s avoiding his eyes, but seems content to continue wearing his hoodie and her leggings. “You okay?” he asks.

Rey nods fervently. “I’m fine.”

“Look — if you want to leave, I’ll take you back to campus,” he offers. “I won’t be mad if you thought you could do this but you actually can’t. And I’m sorry about the kiss. That was — ”

She looks up sharply. “It’s not that.”

Confused, he asks, “Then what is it?”

Rey pulls her hands up inside the sleeves of the oversized hoodie and slowly wanders to the armchair in the corner. She shoves Ben’s blankets to the floor and sits down, her feet propped up on the edge of the cushion, knees to her chest. He waits, trying to hide his impatience.

“I guess I just…” 

She’s struggling with the words. It’s written clear as day on her face that she has things to say, and she’s not afraid to say them, she just doesn’t know the words. It’s an odd concept to Ben, who finds that words are one of the only things he fully understands in this world, and one of the only things that come easily to him. He sits up on the bed, crossing his legs as he faces her properly.

“My family all died when I was very young,” Rey says. Her voice is barely above a whisper. “I grew up in group homes. Sometimes I’d be with a foster family, but it was usually temporary, if I had to be moved between places. Nothing was ever stable. Holiday celebrations were rare. Family was… it’s this thing that like… I know what it is, but don’t know how it _feels_. Does that make sense?”

Ben nods.

“And then today, being here…” Her voice trembles as she speaks, and Ben looks down at his lap to give her a little bit of privacy. She grapples for words, the room silent once more. “It’s stupid,” she says finally, shaking her head.

“It’s not. Say it.”

Rey sniffles. “My whole life, when it came to holidays… I’ve always felt so alone. But here, today… I didn’t. It’s like for the first time, I finally understand what a family should _feel_ like. And — that’s so stupid, because we just met, and this is all just a big lie so you can pass your test, and I’m intruding _so much_ and I shouldn’t have, and —”

“Rey.”

She looks up at Ben, whose heavy gaze locks with hers immediately. “You’re not alone,” he says confidently.

Her eyes are glassy, and as soon as he utters the words he sees the glimmer of hope on her face, the belief for one moment that she’s not intruding, that this feeling is something she can have, too. That he doesn’t mind sharing it with her, for just one weekend.

“Neither are you.”

Rey blinks gently, and Ben watches as a tear slowly drifts down the rosy apple of her cheek. He leans forward, brushing the tear away with his thumb. His hand lingers near the side of her face, and he’s oh so tempted to cup her cheek and kiss her again, for real this time, because his parents aren’t watching and he wants it to be real — but he can’t. It wouldn’t be right. She’s emotional, and she needs rest. He’s so caught up in his head, he doesn’t see the way her eyes dart to his lips, a silent wish that won’t come true.

Slowly, Ben brings his hand back to his lap. “We should get some sleep,” he suggests. “Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

Confused, Rey asks, “It is?”

“Yeah,” Ben nods. “It’s when we decorate for Christmas. Dad will probably also need help raking up all the leaves in the backyard. It’ll snow soon. Maybe this weekend, even.”

“Oh.”

Confused, Ben asks, “Did you not want to stay for that? I can drive you back to campus, like I said. Besides, I could use the study time, and they always make me put the star up on the top of the tree now that I’m tallest, so like...”

Rey shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. I just… didn’t know that’s what people did.”

He shrugs. “You have a lot to learn about holidays here.”

In what he can only assume is a bid to change the subject, Rey forces a smile and says, “And you still have a lot to learn about philosophy before this exam. But we’re staying.”

He nods and climbs off of the bed, watching Rey closely. She can’t be okay already; nobody shifts from sadness to humor _that_ quickly. Something still seems off about her, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Rey seems ready and determined to climb into bed and fall asleep, and Ben is too tired to argue.

Once again, he lays his things out on the floor, ready to get some sleep to see what the rest of the weekend will bring.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traditions ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter after this! Dear prompter, I hope you're enjoying.
> 
> Thank you to my lovely betas <3

Ben doesn’t wake quite so early the next morning. He can hear Rey snoring softly, and his back is screaming at him because once again he’d laid on the floor of his room. The carpet only provided so much cushion and support. Ben groans as he stands up, and realizes too late that he could wake Rey by doing this. She sniffles and rolls over, but doesn’t wake up. 

Before he goes downstairs, Ben grabs a bag of good coffee out of his backpack, slides his feet into his ratted old slippers, and slowly descends the stairs — this time, taking them one at a time due to his sore back. In the kitchen, he sets about making some _good_ coffee, none of that Folgers crap, and waits for everyone else to wake.

As he does, he leans against the counter and scrolls through his phone. There’s nothing interesting on any social media — just lots of Instagrams of people’s meals from the day before, copied over to Facebook, of course. It bores him, so he pockets his phone and reaches into the cupboard for a coffee cup.

It should feel stranger, he knows, to have a girl with him for the holiday. It’s not something he ever thought he’d do. His parents certainly hadn’t expected it. But Rey is basically a stranger to him, so what does it matter, really? He can just tell his family they broke up once this whole tutoring thing is over, and he can move on with his life.

But all night, he’d thought about what Rey had confessed to him. That she’d lived in foster homes, that she’d never before felt what it was like to have a family.

He didn’t pity her. He knew better than anyone that pity was the worst feeling. People wanted to be understood, not pitied. Empathized with, but most definitely _not_ the subject of someone’s pity. No, more than anything, Ben was enthralled by Rey. She seemed so put together, so happy. It was hard to reconcile the past she’d confided to him about with the young woman he was currently spending the holiday with.

She appears in the doorway to the kitchen moments later, her hair tied back in one lone bun, not her usual three, bags under her eyes and her own slouchy sweater on this time. Ben doesn’t want to make it weird, so he turns to the cupboard to grab her a coffee cup. Before he fills it, he asks, “Or would you rather have tea? I think we have some Earl Grey around here somewhere.”

“Coffee is fine,” Rey says. “Is it the good stuff your dad said you could make?”

She waits at the end of the counter island, keeping a safe distance. “Yeah,” Ben nods. “I brought it from my apartment.”

“So I won’t need creamer?”

He snorts and shakes his head as he pours her a full, steaming mug. “Thanks,” she says as she lifts it to her lips.

She breathes in the fresh scent of the coffee, and Ben tries not to watch her too closely out of the corner of his eye. She looks so at peace, unlike she’d appeared the night before. Leaning against the counter adjacent to Ben, she sips carefully at it and smiles.

“This is weird.”

Ben blurts it out without really thinking.

He knows it’s stupid to talk about out in the open where his parents could walk in and hear, but he needs to say _something_ because he wants the awkwardness to go away. If it doesn’t, the rest of the weekend is going to be absolutely unbearable and he really doesn’t want that. 

“I’m sorry,” Rey says finally. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying to steal your family time or anything. I really just —”

“It’s not that,” Ben interjects. “It’s more of like… we kissed. In front of my family. But we just met.”

Rey shrugs. “Surely you’ve done weirder things? I have.”

Ben hesitates just enough that her eyes go wide and she realizes that no, in fact, he hasn’t.

“Oh god,” she gasps. “I’m _so sorry_.”

Face flushed red, Ben shakes his head and says, “No, it’s fine. I mean, I’ve kissed people before. Obviously.”

“Of course,” Rey replies, just as flushed as he feels.

“Just not in front of my parents.”

“Oh.”

They’re both quiet, the awkwardness palpable between them. Rey doesn’t look up, so Ben can’t figure out if he needs to specify what he means by that. In the interest of full disclosure, he does.

“I’ve never brought anyone home for the holidays before.”

Rey doesn’t move her head, but she glances up at him through her eyelashes. Something about that seems to surprise her, but Ben can’t really put his finger on what the look on her face truly means. It’s clear, however, that it’s a big deal that she’s there with him — it puts into relief the fact that Ben maybe isn’t as mature as he’d led her to believe. Or as experienced with women. 

“Things should be better today,” he adds. “There’s no big formal meal or anything. Just decorating for Christmas, lots of eating leftovers.”

“Oh,” Rey nods. “That sounds fine. I’ve never done that before.”

Ben looks up at her, an odd expression on his face. It doesn’t surprise him that she hasn’t decorated for Christmas before, but it seems such a mundane, normal thing to do that it’s hard to envision a life where one doesn’t do something like that. 

“Anyway,” she continues, trying to change the subject. “How about a hug? Break the tension before your parents wake up?”

“Oh,” Ben says, caught off guard by the sudden change in topic. “Sure. Yeah. Hug.”

He holds out one arm, the other focused on not spilling his steaming mug of coffee, and waits for Rey to approach. She does the same, hooking her free arm around his waist. As she leans in, Ben can feel her warmth all along his body, and it causes his heart to start racing. He hopes like hell she can’t feel it or hear it — the last thing he wants to do is make this even weirder. 

Rey looks up at him with warm, wide eyes, and his breath catches in his throat. His eyes dart down to her mouth and he knows she noticed. But she’s not stepping away. She’s right there next to him, her arm around his waist, not shying away from his gaze or his touch.

For the briefest of seconds, Ben contemplates leaning forward. Perhaps he does, but just doesn’t realize, because a second later there’s the sound of a cat-call followed by the pitter-patter of dog paws. Chewie comes rushing in, and Ben and Rey step away from each other as though a shock pushed them apart. 

“Keeping it PG down here in the kitchen, I see,” Han laughs.

He reaches for the leash next to the door to the garage, and Ben feels his whole face growing hotter. He’s mortified that they’d been caught, even if all they’d been doing was hugging. “_Dad_,” he grumbles.

“Sorry,” Rey adds.

“No, no, no reason to be sorry,” Han insists. “Just don’t make me a grandfather for a couple years and we’ll be good. Honestly.”

“_Dad_!” 

“What’s this about grandkids?”

Leia hobbles into the room in her bathrobe, dark-framed glasses on her face and her hair in a messy bun atop her head. 

“Nothing,” Han said. “I was telling them not to make me a grandfather for a few years still.”

Leia quirks an eyebrow. “Were they getting up to something in here?”

“No, we weren’t,” Ben says flatly.

“It was just a hug,” Rey adds. “We wouldn’t — not in here, I promise.”

Leia smiles. “Relax, you two. This is all normal. Just be safe.”

“_Mom_.”

Rey clears her throat and says, “We’re going to go upstairs to get dressed. We’ll be back in a bit.”

Han half-coughs, half-chokes, and Ben realizes a moment too late what conclusions they’ve drawn from what she said. 

He takes the exit, though, and together they walk upstairs. Rey takes a shower while Ben sips on his coffee, watching random YouTube videos on his phone as he lounges in the armchair. He takes a turn after her, the two of them keeping everything totally above-board. It only makes sense, considering they’re nowhere near his parents; there’s no need to keep up the facade behind closed doors.

For Rey, decorating for Christmas is a dream. Once she and the Solos have consumed copious amounts of donuts Han picked up from the grocery store down the street, they get to work. Leia reminisces about how they used to have real trees, until they adopted Chewie. True to his name, he’d chomp and chew at the branches of the trees until they finally gave up and invested in a fake one to reuse every year. 

Rey smiles at the story, which prompts Ben to tell her how they’d found Chewie all alone in a park nearby, no collar on, no chip in. His scruffy goldendoodle fur was matted and dirty, but they’d taken him in and cleaned him up. After a vet’s visit and all the mandatory waiting periods to be sure he didn’t have owners somewhere, they were allowed to take him in. Though not an official therapy animal, he’d helped Ben through high school — years which, he said in the vaguest of terms, were the most depressing of his life.

She hands lengths of icicle lights to Han as he hangs them from the front porch, and Ben watches her out of the corner of his eye as she studies each and every handmade ornament on the tree. So many of them were made by Ben in his younger years, and he wants nothing more than to be embarrassed that she’s seen them. 

But for some reason, he’s not.

He tries not to think too hard about what that could possibly mean. He’s known since Rose introduced them that she’s a beautiful girl, and he’s known since they left campus that she’s a snarky, strong girl, too. Of course he’s attracted to her — she ticks all the boxes.

But she’s his tutor, and he’s just some guy she shares a mutual friend with. That’s all there is to it. 

They snack on leftovers and then Rey helps Leia put the decorative houses up on the fake snow along the mantle. Ben places the star atop the tree and Leia reminds him of the years when he’d almost knock the tree over, insisting he was tall enough to do it when he wasn’t. Now he is, and it’s a nice change, not having a heart attack when he reaches for the top branches. 

Ben catches Rey smiling so much throughout the day, her gaze always seeming to linger on him when he least expects it. He knows it’s stupid to think it might mean something — it obviously doesn’t, she can do way better than him — but he likes the attention all the same. 

They snack on leftovers, making turkey sandwiches and eating piles of lukewarm green bean casserole. Rey seems perfectly content to eat the same foods two days in a row. Ben has never been a fan. He sucks it up and says nothing, though, not wanting to look childish in front of her.

“So I was thinking tonight we could watch a movie,” Leia comments as she rinses the dishes.

Rey stands at her side, placing the rinsed dishes one by one into the dishwasher. Leia had told her she didn’t need to help, but Rey insisted. Ben spends his time packaging up the remaining leftovers — there’s still an obscene amount, and he dreads having the same food for the next two days — while Han takes Chewie out for a walk. 

“What movie?” Ben asks.

“I don’t know,” Leia shrugs. “A Christmas one? Get in the mood for the season?”

Ben raises an eyebrow and asks gruffly, “Haven’t we done that enough today?”

Leia sighs and shakes her head. “Honestly, Rey. I don’t know how you put up with him.” She smiles at Rey, and then looks up at Ben, “Just for that, I’m going to say _The Grinch_.”

Rey laughs. “That’s one I _have_ seen!”

“Well, since she’s already seen it, we can’t watch that one,” Ben argues smartly. “We need to pick one she hasn’t seen.” After the briefest of pauses, he adds, “And she’s with me because she gets me.”

Leia scoffs. “Uh huh,” she chuckles. “Alright Rey, what Christmas movie haven’t you seen?”

“How would she know the movie even exists if she hasn’t seen it?” Ben continues to argue.

“Well then you pick one!”

Ben smirks; he’s always appreciated his mother’s ability to keep up with his quips. His dad so often would get flustered and stumble over his words as he’d try and fail to say an appropriate comeback. His mother, however, was quick-witted and clever, and could always keep up. She smirks right back, and Ben knows he’s not in any real trouble. 

Finally, Leia turns to Rey and says, “We have a whole shelf of them over by the TV. Go pick one that looks good, and we’ll all watch that.”

“Deal,” Rey smiles.

Her gaze lingers on Ben for a moment, something sparkling in her eye that he can’t place. He doesn’t know what it means, or if she’s trying to tell him anything. Before he can try to make sense of it, Rey walks past him and out towards the living room. He watches her retreating form, surprised by how at home she appears to be at his parents’ house already. It makes his heart thrum faster in his chest.

“She’s a good one.”

Ben spins around to face his mother, who speaks to him in hushed tones. She looks past his shoulder at Rey where she very seriously analyzes the DVDs on the shelf. 

Ben nods. “She is.”

The silence is delicate, as though either one of them could shatter this common ground they’ve found and ruin things for the rest of the weekend. Bravely, Leia continues, “I’m happy you’ve found someone. She seems so supportive. She’s got a big heart.”

Ben nods again. “Yeah.”

She pats his arm gently and says, “You two make a really lovely couple.”

Ben looks over at his mother, confusion on his face. It takes him a moment to realize that the lie is still going on — she thinks he and Rey are dating. Everyone does. When he looks back at Rey, in her floppy stocking feet and her oversized sweater and weird messy bun, his heart races in his chest. He’s too far gone, in too deep, committed too much to this lie. And now it could affect his parents.

He feels a sudden desire to call it all off and tell the truth, but he can’t do that to Rey. She’s had such a nice time, seeing what it’s like to celebrate holidays with family. He couldn’t do that to her.

Ben takes a deep breath and reminds himself that in a week or two, he can just tell his parents that they broke up and that’ll be the end of that. Easy.

“Why don’t you go help her get the movie started. I’ll finish up in here.”

Leia gently pats him on the shoulder, urging him into the living room. Ben goes, swallowing past a lump in his throat as he does. As soon as Rey sees him, she looks up with a bright, sparkling smile. “I found one!”

She holds up _The Holiday_, a movie Ben has tried to avoid, so far successfully, watching. This seems to be where things will change. “Mom will love you for choosing that,” he says.

Rey grins brighter. “Perfect.”

He helps her get the TV switched on and the DVD player running. Once the main menu pops up, Ben pulls a blanket off the rack by the door and offers it to Rey. “Thanks,” she says, grabbing it from him eagerly.

Han and Chewie return home at that very moment, and Chewie eagerly bounds over to the sofa where Rey was settling in. “Oh hello!” she coos, scratching behind his ears and patting his back. “How was your walk?” He licks her face, drawing more laughter from her. “Are you going to watch a movie with us? Huh? Huh?”

Ben stands there, dumbfounded, watching as his dog showers Rey with more affection than he’s shown Ben in years. He tries not to be too hurt by it. 

He takes a seat next to her, and they wait for his parents to join them for the movie. For a while, Rey sits cross legged on the middle cushion of the couch, Ben to her left and Chewie sprawled out to her right, using her thigh as a pillow. About half an hour into the movie, though, she starts getting restless. First she puts her legs down, over the edge of the cushions. Then, she brings them up onto the couch next to her. After five minutes of indecisiveness, Leia says, “Rey, you’ve got a boyfriend — use him! Boyfriends and husbands are _great_ as giant pillows.”

Ben coughs awkwardly, and looks away as his father laughs with amusement. 

“Good point,” Rey smiles, playing along like it’s the easiest thing in the world to her.

Ben wishes he had half the confidence Rey did. Every single moment they keep up the facade, he worries both that his parents will find out, but also that his feelings will grow. Feelings he knows he shouldn’t have, that Rey doesn’t reciprocate.

When Rey shifts, Chewie sits up and watches curiously. As Jack Black makes a fool of himself in the movie, Rey looks up at Ben, a redness flushed across the apples of her cheeks as she scoots towards him. He lifts his arm more on instinct than anything else, letting Rey slot herself against him. He’s got his legs up on the reclining portion of the sofa, so he’s already settled in and comfortable. 

She seems to fit perfectly against him, the two of them like puzzle pieces, meant to be side by side. Legs curled up at her side, Rey leans her weight into Ben, head on his shoulder and body draped over his. Gently, he lowers his arm around her waist. 

Chewie leans forward, sniffing around to investigate. As he does, Ben outstretches his fingers and gives him a few scratches behind his ear. Chewie settles in with his head on Rey’s leg, curled up in the crook where her legs are bent, overtop the blanket. 

Ben’s heart races against his ribcage for the rest of the movie, and he can’t focus on anything other than Rey. She smells like his soap, but there’s something else there, too — her detergent, maybe? Or perhaps she wears perfume? It’s a subtle rustic scent, something that reminds him of being at the beach, but also of walking through deep forests — and he’s pretty sure it’s not his soap that he’s smelling. 

Not to mention, Rey is so warm against him, a comforting weight that he doesn’t feel stifled by.

Chewie moves to Han’s lap sometime in the middle of the movie, and by the time it ends, there’s a serene silence in the family room of the Solo home. Ben yawns but doesn’t move; he wants to wait for Rey, to let her sit up so it doesn’t come across as though he’s trying to push her away. They haven’t exactly talked about this away from his parents, and he doesn’t want to be rude.

His parents both look over and smile at him, the sort of smile that tells Ben they’re going to say something ridiculous. “Couple of the year award over there,” Leia says jokingly.

Ben raises an eyebrow, to which Han just nods in Rey’s direction and says, “You’re so comfy she fell asleep right there.”

Ben cranes his neck to try to look, to see if she really was asleep, but the fact that she’s still unmoving even after the conversation started tells him all he needs to know. As carefully as he can, he kicks down the footrest and shifts. He keeps one arm around Rey’s shoulders and uses the other to scoop beneath her knees. She squirms a little, but he knows she’s a heavy sleeper; she’s not going to wake up.

“Do you need help?” Han asks.

Shaking his head, Ben whispers, “I’m fine.”

Leia smiles knowingly and pats his shoulder. “Sleep well, you two.”

Han grabs for the leash to let Chewie out one more time, while Ben makes strides towards the stairs. Rey is heavier than he’d expected; he assumes it’s all muscle. He’s visited the gym with Rose enough, though; he can carry Rey up the stairs with no issues.

Tilted at an angle so Rey will fit up the stairs crosswise, Ben takes the steps one at a time. He stumbles when he gets to the top landing, reaching his leg upwards in expectation of another stair, but it’s still not enough to wake Rey. 

Gently, he lays her down upon his bed, moving blankets as much as he can to make tucking her in easier. He covers her with said blankets with a delicate touch, trying hard not to wake her up. It’s hard to tell whether she’ll read this gesture as sweet or creepy; given they’ve known each other for less than a week, it’s entirely possible she’ll call it the latter.

Once he’s pulled the blankets up to her shoulders, Ben leans away. He’s about to fold up his own makeshift bed when he sees her sniffling and making faces in her sleep. A few stray hairs are drifting past her nose, tickling her as she breathes. 

Hesitantly, he reaches out and brushes the few strands of hair away from her face. Rey’s eyes flutter open sleepily, a dopey smile on her face. “‘Night, Ben,” she breathes.

Rey yawns, and before Ben even has a chance to utter the same statement to her in return, she’s laid back on the pillow, eyes shut, mouth dropped open in a gentle snore.

“Goodnight, Rey.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our conclusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear giftee, I hope you've enjoyed!
> 
> Readers, thanks for giving this fic a chance.
> 
> To my betas, thank you so much <3

Ben wakes on Saturday morning to see a figure seated at his desk, a blanket around their shoulders, pouring over his philosophy textbook. It’s Rey, of course, and through bleary eyes he observes just how at-home she appears to be in his bedroom. Just a few short days spent together in his childhood home have forced the two of them closer, and helped Rey find a home away from home. 

Forced may not be the right word, though.

Odd glances from Rey and secretive shared smiles leave Ben feeling like perhaps his chances with Rey aren’t as miniscule as he’d first expected. He’s always known there’d be someone out there for him — he’s quite picky, and understands he’s not always easy to get along with — and he feels a warmth spread through his chest as he thinks about what things could be like if maybe he and Rey _did_ have a chance at something.

He shifts on the floor and groans, his back screaming out angrily in pain. Rey looks over suddenly, surprised to hear a sound. Wincing, Ben slowly sits up; as he does, several joints crack, though none in his back which needs it the most. “Are you alright?” Rey asks, looking alarmed.

“Yeah,” he nods.

She looks unsure. 

“I just need a warm shower, I’ll be fine,” he insists. Nodding to the desk, desperate to change the subject, he asks, “Are you studying up?”

“Yeah,” Rey nods. “I was thinking we could study this afternoon. You know… the whole reason I’m here.”

Had Rose just introduced the two of them without his philosophy homework being a stressor, Ben realizes that he might have just invited Rey along anyway. He has a growing suspicion that she would have agreed, too.

Slowly he pushes himself up from the floor, grumbling as he does so. “Good idea,” he says. “After breakfast.” Looking around, he asks, “What time is it?”

“It’s half ten. You slept in.”

“You fell asleep early.”

She blushes furiously and looks down at her lap. A moment later, the question that was really on her mind finally comes out. “How did I get up here?”

“I carried you.”

It’s so easy for him to say; he doesn’t think about what could be wrong with the statement, or what it implies. He’d taken the liberty of scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to a comfortable sleeping place. He hadn’t woken her or made her walk herself up the stairs. Rey tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she says, “That was nice of you.”

He shrugs. “It was no big deal.”

She opens her mouth to say something, but before the words come out, Leia is shouting up the stairs to them. “I’m coming up there in five minutes! Make sure you’re decent!”

Embarrassed, Ben shouts back, “_Mom_!”

Rey laughs nervously. “They really think you have an active sex life, don’t they?”

Ben raises an eyebrow. “Maybe I do.”

She snorts, and Ben tries not to find the noise too derisive. “I _could_,” he amends. “I just haven’t felt like it lately.”

“What kind of college guy doesn’t _feel like it_?” she argues.

Ben’s cheeks redden; he hadn’t expected her to be so sharp. “Well, I —”

Rey laughs and climbs out of the chair. “Better go take that shower,” she changes the subject, patting him on the arm. “I’ll keep studying up so we can work on this later. You’re getting an A, I’m determined.”

“That’s awfully cocky of you,” he says, grabbing a pair of blue jeans and a hoodie off the nearest surface of his room. 

He doesn’t realize until he’s getting dressed after his shower that it’s the same hoodie Rey wore on Thanksgiving. 

It looked better on her.

Breakfast is less weird now that everyone’s comfortable with each other; Ben opts for cereal while Rey happily crunches away at some toast with jam. They sip more of Ben’s perfectly made coffee and in general, it’s a pretty quiet morning. Ben likes it. It reminds him more of what his Thanksgiving weekends are like — very little companionship or conversation, save for affection from Chewie whenever the dog will deign to provide it. Conversation is often stilted or totally absent, and Ben finds he prefers it that way. They all ran out of things to talk about when he was ten years old.

Rey keeps things lively, though. She answers any questions Han and Leia have for her, even if they’re incredibly personal and not something Ben would ever divulge to strangers. Namely, he’s surprised when Rey begins to unleash her whole life story, just as she’d done on Thanksgiving evening. By the time she finishes, Han has a weird sad look on his face, and Ben swears he sees a tear or two in his mother’s eye. 

Rey puts on a bright smile, though, and insists that she’s okay. “I’ve never known life any other way, so there’s nothing for me to be sad about!” she insists.

“Oh, Rey,” Leia sighs.

“You’re welcome here, Rey. Anytime,” Han adds.

Ben swears he’s imagining it, but Rey almost looks sad when she nods, smiles to his parents, and says, “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

At this point, there’s no denying it. He’d bring her every Thanksgiving from here on out if he could. He may not be super close with his own family, but Rey seems to have connected with them, and she has nobody — Ben doesn’t want to take that away from her.

After breakfast, they disappear up to his bedroom. The door is left open, an old habit from Ben’s one and only relationship he’d had in high school. He takes a seat at his desk, prepared for the studying to commence. As soon as he’s seated, Rey snatches the book off the desktop and brings it with her as she tosses herself dramatically onto the bed.

“Okay, first question,” Rey begins. “Who are the two primary philosophers who came up with these fallacies?”

Ben sits back in his chair. “I thought you were supposed to be helping me?” he groans.

“I am,” she insists. “I just need a benchmark of where you’re at. So I know how much we have to shove into your head in two days.”

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “Aristotle and John Locke.”

Rey smiles, he can hear it in her voice. “Good. Bonus: do you know the names of their writings that created this list of fallacies?”

Ben takes a few deep breaths, racking his brain for the titles he knows are tucked away in his head somewhere. Slowly he begins to reply. “Aristotle’s was called _Sophistical Refutations_.” 

“Yep!”

“And John Locke’s was called…”

There’s more hesitation, and Ben goes over the myriad of combinations of words he thinks it could be — it’s very likely he’ll have an article or two wrong somewhere in the title, but perhaps he can get away with it. Very slowly, he says, “_The Essay Concerning Human Understanding_.”

“Close,” Rey replies. “_An_ Essay, not _The_ Essay.”

“Okay, Hermione.”

Rey bursts out laughing, the book lowered to her chest as she pulls her knees inwards. She’s curled up in a ball right there on his bed and he chances a glance over his shoulder to get a good look at her. In just a few short days, he’s fallen absolutely head over heels for this girl. She looks over at him, mirth and joy in her eyes, and quiets a little as she notices him watching. Ben feels his face grow red, but he’s not ashamed. 

He’s decided he’d rather take a risk and be made a fool than miss out on what could be something really special with this girl.

“Alright — shall I quiz you on some fallacies? See how many you still need to learn?” she asks.

“Sure,” he nods.

He spins around in his chair to face her, rocking back and forth on it a little. “Okay, what I’m going to do is say a statement. Then, you tell me which fallacy it is. Any questions?” Rey instructs.

Ben shakes his head.

“Okay, first fallacy,” Rey begins. “Do you still have a girlfriend?”

Ben is quiet. Not only is he trying to figure out what kind of fallacy it is, but he’s also trying to grapple with the fact that he’s almost positive that’s not an example from his textbook. It’s an example Rey made up, which means it’s a question she probably wants an answer to. But why?

He swallows thickly, past a lump in his throat. “That’s… a complex question. It’s a question that includes a statement that is not established to be true. I don’t have a girlfriend, so answering that would be a loaded question.”

Rey smiles. “Good. Very good.”

Ben raises his eyebrow, genuinely confused as to where this conversation is going. 

“Next fallacy,” says Rey. “I’m lonely and you’re lonely, so that means we’re both lonely.”

Confused, he says, “I think you were going for equivocation, but that’s not quite right. Equivocation requires the same term to be used twice, but each time it’s used is a different meaning, and the conclusion shouldn’t be a third iteration.”

Rey laughs. “You’re catching on. I did that wrong on purpose, to see if you’d get it.”

Rey looks at him coyly, and Ben gazes disbelievingly back at her. “I don’t know if I believe that,” he says.

She looks positively mischievous as she shrugs and says, “I mean, believe what you want. The statement, however, is true.”

“No it’s not,” he blurts out.

Rey is quiet, her smile giving way to a look of pensive curiosity. “It’s not?”

“You were lonely, and I was lonely, but now we’re hanging out and we’re not lonely,” he says like it’s the easiest concept in the world and doesn’t mean a goddamn thing. “Or at least, I _hope_ you’re not still lonely.”

She smiles appreciatively. “I’m not still lonely,” she says.

They share a long, lingering look, the silence in the room feeling much more comfortable than it once had. Softly, Ben asks, “Next fallacy?”

“Right,” Rey nods. “I’d be the best girlfriend, and you want a good girlfriend, so obviously we should make this official and _actually_ make me your girlfriend.”

Her gaze is hard, like her brain is trying to build up her walls while her heart desperately wills the walls to stay down. Ben feels a little like the wind has been knocked out of him. “That’s um… begging the question,” he mumbles. “Your statement about being the best girlfriend isn’t known to be true, so it affects the conclusion.”

Rey smiles. “Good.”

Ben is quiet, studying her quizzically. Softly, her voice filled with hope and hesitation, Rey asks, “Do you _think_ it’s a true statement, though?”

He nods. “Yes.”

Rey smiles and sits up on his bed. “I’d be the best girlfriend you ever had,” Rey says bravely. 

“And you’d want that?” he asks.

Rey nods. “Of course. I’ve been lonely for so long… why would I joke about this?”

Ben takes a deep breath, still in disbelief. “That’s an _ad misericordiam_ — appealing to sympathy or pity as evidence.”

She smiles. “I’m not quizzing you anymore.”

Slowly, Rey stands from the bed and walks the short distance to Ben in his desk chair. He looks up at her, his brown eyes warm and curious as he watches her every move. “What do you think?” she asks. “Can we give it a try? Everyone our age seems to be in a relationship except for us.”

Ben clears his throat as Rey pulls her hands into her sleeves, standing so close he can feel the warmth of her body before him, their knees nearly knocking. “That’s an _ad populum_ — accepting something as evidence when you’re just assuming based on popular culture or consensus.”

She laughs, bright and cheerful, and leans down, her hands resting on the arms of his desk chair. Ben doesn’t know what to do with his own hands, but ends up keeping them crossed in front of his stomach. He doesn’t understand her boldness, or where this burst of confidence has come from — maybe she’s had it all along — but he watches Rey lean in, their noses bumping. Her breath puffs out against his lips and he feels like he’s going to die of anticipation. 

“If we start dating, we’ll kiss,” Ben argues weakly. “If we kiss, we’ll hook up. If we hook up, we’ll fall in love, and if we fall in love, we’ll get married.”

“And?” Rey whispers.

“If we get married, my parents will be happy. So obviously, we can’t kiss.”

Rey lets out a breathy laugh, still lingering in his space, nose bumping against his. Ben’s heart feels like it’s going to burst forth from his chest, unable to contain the immense affection and excitement he feels being this close to Rey. 

“That’s a slippery slope,” Rey says.

“Lemony Snicket taught me that one.”

Rey laughs, finally leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Ben grabs her waist and pulls her forward, just the few inches needed to help slide her onto his lap. Their foreheads touch and a moment later, he’s tipping his chin upwards and kissing her. Where he gathers the courage from, he doesn’t know, but he doesn’t regret a thing.

Rey kisses him fervently, excitedly, her arms holding him close, her mouth tasting sweet against his lips. She’s gentle and curious and kind, and Ben finds that he’d quite like to kiss her for the rest of his life, if given the chance. Perhaps he’s not as afraid of the slippery slope he’d mentioned, after all. 

When the kiss breaks, Rey leans her forehead against his and whispers, “If you don’t say yes, I’m going to have to kiss you again.”

Ben smirks, sliding one of his hands smoothly along her spine, bringing her closer still to him where she sits upon his lap. “That’s an _ad baculum_ — an argument that involves a threat of injury, harm, or retaliation.”

“Is that a no, then?” Rey pouts.

She dances her lips teasingly over Ben’s, not quite kissing him, but reminding him of just how badly he wants to kiss her. 

“No,” he breathes.

Rey smiles. 

“So it’s a yes, then?” she asks.

Ben pulls her into a kiss, giving Rey all the answer she needs. Rey smiles into the kiss and a soft laugh tumbles to Ben’s lips from hers. “You look so good in that sweatshirt,” she whispers.

“Maybe,” Ben replies between slow, playful kisses. “But you,” another kiss, “look better in it.”

His words only fuel her on, making Rey smile even bigger. They hear a door close downstairs, followed by the sound of a car driving away, and moments later they’re on his bed, kissing like teenagers. It’s the happiest Ben has felt in a very long time.

——

Waking up on Sunday is bittersweet for Ben. On the one hand, he doesn’t feel ready for this exam so he dreads going to campus, but more than that, he knows it’s going to be hard for Rey to leave this happy family she’s so easily slotted herself into. What he _is_ grateful for, however, is waking up in a bed, next to his girlfriend, with his back relatively at ease.

She seems to feel just as morose as he, and Han and Leia sense it over breakfast. Leia’s talked Han into making them all eggs — apparently, it’s one of the only things he’s good at in the kitchen — but even that doesn’t lift Rey’s spirits.

“Oh, Rey,” Leia says, hugging her right in the middle of the kitchen as they all clean up after breakfast. “You can come back and visit us anytime. I insist. With or without Ben.” 

Rey looks up at Ben mischievously, and he raises his eyebrow, a silent question as to whether or not she’d actually do such a thing. He really can’t figure it out. 

“Come for Christmas, at least,” Han says. “And stay through New Year’s. We always do this big party for all the families on the block. It’s a lot of fun. Even Ben has been known to laugh once or twice during the party.”

Ben glowers, but ultimately doesn’t want to dissuade Rey from coming home with him for Christmas. She’s clearly made a home for herself here, and though they’re moving at a terrifyingly fast pace compared to most couples, it feels right. He has something Rey has always wanted, and he’s filled with the deep urge to share. In the back of his head, he finds himself wondering if her being so agreeable with his parents has helped him push aside some of the resentment he still holds for them from his childhood.

Or maybe that’s the residual sounds of his therapist from high school in his head. He’s not entirely sure at this point.

“Yes, I’ll bring her with me, don’t worry,” he says finally.

He reaches out, trying to steal Rey out of his mother’s embrace to fold her into his own. “Hey now,” Han warns. “Keep it PG.”

“_Dad_.”

Rey blushes and takes that opportunity to duck under Ben’s arm to say one last goodbye to Chewie. 

It takes entirely too long, but eventually Ben and Rey walk out the front door, retreating to Ben’s car where it sits under a soft dusting of snow. Rey climbs into the passenger’s seat, feet up on the dash, and reclines back to make herself comfortable.

“Are you going to nap again?” Ben asks as he gets into the driver’s seat.

“No,” Rey shakes her head. “I was thinking we’d study.”

Dryly, Ben says, “I think you should nap.”

“Definitely not,” she replies firmly. “You want this A, you’re going to get this A, if it’s the last thing I ever do. I did not learn all this philosophy for nothing.”

Ben shifts the car into reverse. “Hey, I think I’m doing — wait, _what_?”

“Huh?”

Rey looks innocently at Ben as he shifts the car back into park. “You _learned_ philosophy for this?”

Rey hesitates, like she’s debating whether or not to tell the truth. “Well…” she trails off. “Yeah? I mean, I know Rose because we’re both engineering majors. Of course I didn’t take _philosophy_ for my logical reasoning credit.”

“Are you even allowed to be tutoring me in this?” he asks incredulously.

“I mean, technically no,” Rey shrugs. “But the manager of tutoring services likes me, and he knows I pick up stuff way faster than others, and I needed the money, so he gave me clearance. So I got the book from the library and studied up to teach you.”

Ben takes his foot off the pedal and turns to face Rey as best he can while buckled into the driver’s seat of a car. “So you’re telling me that you learned the content I’ve been struggling over for _weeks_ over the course of just a few _hours_?”

“Um… yes?”

Before Ben can stammer out some sort of shocked answer, his dad wanders outside in slippers, shouting at them. Rey lowers her window so they can hear what he’s saying.

“Something wrong with your car, kid?”

“Wha-? No. I was just talking to Rey. I —”

“You should get a move on. Another wave of snow is headed this way and you guys should get to campus before it hits,” Han instructs. “Now go, and text your mother when you get there.”

Ben purses his lips, resisting the urge to shout back that he’s an adult, thank you very much, and he’ll drive when and where he pleases, and choose whether or not to text people when he’s done. Rey rolls up her window and relaxes back into the seat, thankful that Han interrupted the conversation before it got really awkward.

Though she said she’d make him study more, Rey gives up after about half an hour, when it becomes evident that Ben knows the content perfectly, he’s just up in his own head about it all. Forty miles away from campus, she declares him fully fit for the exam and curls up to take a nap.

He drives her to her dorm when they get back to campus, even though it’s on the opposite side of everything from where he lives. She smiles and gives him a sweet kiss goodbye, a few snowflakes already falling outside. “Good luck on your exam,” she says brightly. “I know you’ll do great.”

“Thanks,” he responds, fingers drifting over the loose strands at the end of her scarf.

Rey kisses him once more and says, “Text me when you’re done, tell me how it went.”

Nodding, he replies, “Deal.”

He waits until she’s safe and warm inside her dorm before driving away. On his way back to his apartment, he hears his phone ding and assumes it’s from Rey. A text immediately after leaving seems like something she’d do. Much to Ben’s surprise, as he tosses his bag down in his bedroom ten minutes later, he sees the text is actually from Rose.

**Rose:** How’d it go? Have fun? ;)

In response, Ben sends one lone gif:


End file.
